Profession: Nazi leader
Biography: Regarded by many historians as the darkest figure in the Nazi elite, Heydrich chaired the Wannsee Conference in 1941 which formalized plans for the deadliest phase of the Holocaust. He directly oversaw the Einsatzgruppen, the Nazi death squads who killed more than a million Jews, and served as the brutal protector of Bohemia and Moravia during the Nazi occupation, earning him the moniker "the butcher of Prague."
Heydrich had previously served as the director of the Gestapo from 1934 until 1939, when he took over as the director of the Reich Main Security Office, responsible for rooting out opposition and resistance movements in Nazi territory. So crucial was his involvement in the Holocaust that Adolf Hitler once referred to him as "the man with the iron heart."
He was assassinated in Prague by Czech rebels during Operation Anthropoid.
Born: March 7, 1904
Birthplace: Halle an der Saale, German Empire
Generation: Greatest Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Dragon
Star Sign: Pisces
Died: June 4, 1942 (aged 38)
Cause of Death: Assassination
Articles and Photos
Married Life
- 1931-12-26 SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich marries Lina von Osten
Historical Events
- 1931-06-14 Future Head of the Nazi Gestapo, Reinhard Heydrich first meets with Heinrich Himmler, architect of the Holocaust
- 1939-01-04 Hermann Goering appoints Reinhard Heydrich head of Jewish Emigration
- 1939-09-21 Reinhard Heydrich meets in Berlin to discuss final solution of Jews
- 1941-09-27 Reinhard Heydrich, "butcher of Prague," appointed SS-general (Gruppenfuehrer)
- 1942-05-27 Attempted assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich by a grenade thrown by Czech rebels in Prague during Operation Anthropoid; he dies a week later from an infection. Adolf Hitler orders 10,000 Czechs murdered in revenge, leads in June to the annihilation of Lidice.
- 1942-06-10 Nazis kill all inhabitants of Lidice, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Czech Republic) which had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia, to “teach the Czechs a final lesson of subservience and humility”; over 170 adult men were executed by firing squad on site, women and children were sent to concentration camp gas chambers, and the village was burned down and plowed under
- 1942-06-24 Village of Ležáky, Czechoslovakia destroyed by Nazis after Gestapo finds a radio transmitter believed to have been involved coordinating the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, 33 adults were executed by firing squad on site, and children were sent to concentration camp gas chambers, and the village was burned down and plowed under
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